Crossroads

By: Laura Schaffer

Dr. Alessandro Rovati became a theologian to serve the Church. He lives out his vocation as Chair of Belmont Abbey’s Theology Department — and through active service to the Diocese of Charlotte.

As the director of the College’s unique Diaconal Formation Program, Rovati combines his vocation and joyfully notes that “there’s nothing more beautiful for a theology program than to put its expertise at the service of the life and needs of the local church.”

For the past 2,000 years, deacons have assisted priests in their pastoral ministry, serving the liturgy and performing acts of mercy. Deacons are called to “attend the table and the Word,” Rovati explains.

Deacons baptize, catechize, and preach. They minister to their parishes in a way that models and embraces community stewardship and self-giving. For a time, the diaconal vocation, originally distinct from that of the priest, was subsumed into the stages of priestly discernment. The Second Vatican Council, however, reinstated the practice of ordaining permanent deacons while preserving the diaconal stage on the path to priesthood. 

Heralds of the Gospel

Since then, the Charlotte diocese has embraced the formation of permanent deacons differently. In recent years, diocesan leadership has determined to create a more rigorous and substantive program. To this end, they reached out to Rovati at Belmont Abbey College, having already established a relationship with the college through its education of seminarians. 

After years of careful collaboration, the Abbey officially began its new Diaconal Formation Program in 2023. The program offers a certificate after three-and-a-half years of study and 18 theology courses as part of the diocese’s five-year discernment and formation process.

The synchronous online program was designed to meet best the needs of men working full-time, supporting families, and living throughout the diocese. Seventeen men are enrolled, having completed their first year this past January and been formally accepted as candidates by Bishop Emeritus Jugis.

At the same time, diocesan deacons renewed their promises. The candidates will continue to deepen their familiarity with Scripture, tradition, and Church teaching throughout their formation, exploring how these rich and vital resources can nourish their future ministry. Course assignments often ask students to explain their study topics as if to a parish, preparing them to become “heralds of the gospels.” 

New fervor

Many have told Rovati that the program has enriched their lives of faith and transformed how they participate in the Liturgy. It has opened their hearts and minds to the inexhaustible wealth of biblical and Church tradition, sparking a new fervor in their spiritual journey. This transformation is evident in the “depth and urgency” of the student discussions, all of which powerfully demonstrate their eagerness to make an “impact on the life of their local communities.”

One of Belmont Abbey’s Strategic Plan’s pillars is to “build and serve the Church, locally and beyond,” a goal that the Diaconal Formation Program aligns with and significantly contributes to. Inspired by the Benedictine hallmarks of stability, community, stewardship, and love, the Abbey is particularly grateful to play a key role in the education of deacons and seminarians for the Charlotte diocese. The program serves the local church and hundreds of students each year, helping them realize their God-given potential in service to their families and communities. 

We ask your prayer for the 17 diaconal candidates who seek to offer their gifts and energies with such generosity to our diocese. We are deeply grateful for your support and prayers as they continue their discernment and formation. Your involvement is a testament to the strength and unity of our community.

To read more Abbey stories and stay up to date on college news, request your copy of the next Belmont Abbey Magazine here.

By: Hannah Martin ‘26

If you visit Belmont Abbey College, you might notice young men in cassocks and backpacks heading to class. As it happens, our connection with the local Catholic seminary just minutes away from campus is a little-known but important fact of college life. St. Joseph College Seminary enjoys a special relationship with the Abbey, and seminarians earn their BA in Philosophy here while living down the road in a house of formation. 

These young men navigate the question we must all consider: What is my calling, the living purpose God created for me? The discipline and structure of life in the college seminary minimize distractions and allow seminarians the time and clarity to ask this question and discern the answer: not as a disembodied, heavenly voice, but as the patient unfolding of life in formation. One seminarian suggested that even in a purely practical sense, “A well-ordered daily routine and schedule is extremely beneficial to all aspects of your life.”

Seminarians discern their vocation through honest striving in prayer and community, which reveals over time whether or not a young man was made for this way of life he’s chosen to explore. Seminary formation focuses on cultivating a deep prayer life, practicing the cardinal virtues, developing intellectual gifts, and embracing opportunities for pastoral charity. Assisting at Mass, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary, and setting aside time for Adoration establishes a daily life rooted in sacramental grace, and regular spiritual direction guides each seminarian’s journey. This framework of prayer and formation also orients seminarians’ studies, sports, and work and thus helps them seek God’s will throughout all parts of their lives. Ultimately, the seminary enables men to discern their vocations by discovering who they are. 

Likewise, Belmont Abbey College strives to form students as the men and women God created them to be. We seek to cultivate a rich faith life rooted in the sacraments and monastic prayer  – so that, from this rootedness, our students may thrive in excellence and virtue. Our mission “is to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified. …provid[ing]… an education that will enable [students] to lead lives of integrity, to succeed professionally, to become responsible citizens, and to be a blessing to themselves and to others.” “Lives of integrity” necessitate the active self-knowledge that embraces our personal callings, through which alone we become most authentically “a blessing to ourselves and others.”

As part of daily campus life, seminarians offer a visible reminder of the vocation each of us has within. College is a time for young people to grow and discern God’s will for their lives within their degrees, careers, and vocations. It is our duty as a college to foster this discernment, and we strive to provide the tools and the resources students need to become fully themselves. Professors, coaches, faculty, and friends support students throughout their term, while the monastery maintains a prayerful stability at the very heart of campus life, offering friendship, guidance, and sacramental nourishment to the entire Belmont Abbey community. The seminarians’ presence on campus, however, and their integration into academic life, brings close an added and regular witness to committed discernment and inspires all of us to consider more seriously who it is God created us to be.

Since our founding in 1876, Belmont Abbey has played an active role in the life of the Catholic Church in the American South, not only providing a Benedictine liberal arts education but also ministering to North Carolina parishes and communities from the time when the state was considered “mission territory” to the recent past. Abbot Leo Haid presided as bishop over the entire state until the establishment of the Raleigh Diocese in 1924, and from 1890 until 1937 the college itself offered seminary formation, so we are particularly grateful to continue this legacy by providing an undergraduate education to the future priests of the Charlotte diocese.

To read more Abbey stories and stay up to date on college news, request your copy of the next Belmont Abbey Magazine here.

By: Laura Schaffer, Director of Communications

If you have the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jeffrey W. Talley, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (Retired), it won’t take you long to realize that he’s a man who gets things done.

I learned this for myself when I interviewed Dr. Talley, soon after his selection as Belmont Abbey College’s 21st President. 

Although I certainly enjoyed our conversation, and he answered my questions thoroughly and good-naturedly, the fact is that Dr. Jeff Talley is much less interested in talking about himself than in rolling up his sleeves and getting to work…

Working his way

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Jeff moved to Arlington, Virginia as a child when his father took a Department of Defense job at the Pentagon. 

In a house full of brothers, the resourcefulness and tenacity that would later give Jeff such galvanizing impetus could also land him in hot water, as when he broke into his father’s closet and picked the lock on his classified Pentagon briefcase… This same dogged and creative energy, however, spurred Jeff to start multiple lawn service businesses in high school. “I was quite the entrepreneur,” he said, working what amounted to a full-time job on top of his classes. Focused more on working than on studying, Jeff “didn’t take high school very seriously,” but he graduated in 1977 with a college acceptance and a 1969 Mach I Mustang.

Although his in-state college experience wasn’t a good fit, Jeff kept on with characteristic determination, working long hours to pay his way while continuing as a full-time student. “I did every job you could think of,” he remembers, including buffing floors and cleaning pews at the local Episcopal Cathedral. 

Even working full-time, however, the college meal plan was outside his budget, so Jeff ate macaroni and cheese every night – with a little tuna mixed in on Fridays. “That’s all I could afford… And all of a sudden I get this letter from the Army… offering an Army ROTC scholarship.” At first, he threw it away and “kept eating mac and cheese,” but the next week, Jeff pulled it back out of the trash, thinking, “What the heck? I’m patriotic. I love the United States, and the Army would be good for me. It’d give me some discipline.”

So, Jeff transferred to Louisiana State University and accepted an ROTC scholarship. LSU’s exceptional forestry and natural resource management program appealed to his interest in the outdoors; moreover, “to a boy from Northern Virginia who’s 17 years old,” he smiled, “Louisiana is a far, exotic country.” It was also where Jeff met his wife, Linda. 

Working on calculus in the library one night, sitting by the front window, Jeff noticed a young woman who kept looking up from her English paper. “I thought, ‘this beautiful young woman’s looking at me. I’m going to go say hi.” Jeff and Linda dated through college and were married after graduation. Only years after their wedding did he discover she’d been looking past him that night, waiting for her girlfriends to walk her back to the dorm. They have been married for over 40 years.

Journey of faith

At this time in his life, Jeff started “digging into [his] faith.” He had been raised Methodist but had never given much thought to what he believed. So, Jeff brought his questions to the Methodist minister and chewed over the answers. 

The “problem was,” he said, “I had a certain belief about Holy Communion… I basically believed in real presence…. I believed Holy Communion wasn’t symbolic… so when I discussed that with the Methodist minister, he goes, ‘you can’t be Methodist …we don’t believe that.’”

So, Jeff started meeting with Episcopal and Lutheran ministers, as well as Orthodox and Catholic priests. He attended retreats and immersed himself in reading, studying, and prayer. “And meanwhile,” he recalled, “I got commissioned.”

“I graduated at 11:00 a.m. from LSU, commissioned at 1:00 p.m. as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers… and then at 3:00 p.m. I was ordered to leave and report to my first assignment in the Army,” at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he continued his journey of conversion at St. Paul’s K Street in Washington DC, an “Anglo-Catholic” Parish. Jeff was confirmed in the Episcopal Church, and Linda followed soon thereafter when they relocated to St. Louis.

Meanwhile, during his ten years in the Regular Army, he began, with characteristic tenacity, to accumulate degrees, including a master’s in religious studies from Assumption College and another in liberal arts from Washington University in St. Louis. He also began a Ph.D. in Historical Theology (Patristics) at St. Louis University.  

But his journey didn’t end here. At first, Jeff’s ongoing discernment seemed to be leading him to Anglican orders, where he would attend St. Stephen’s House at Oxford, followed by seminary at Nashotah House in Wisconsin, and then finish the Ph.D. he had started in historical theology. However, it was at this time that he felt God calling him to convert to the Catholic Faith. “What converted me was St. John Henry Newman,” Jeff notes, and the Oxford Movement. When he did eventually go to Oxford years later to study business, Jeff chose Keble College in honor of Newman’s colleague, John Keble, who together with Edward Pusey, were the main three Anglican clergymen who led the Oxford movement. 

Jeff received spiritual direction and “rigorous examination” from Abbot Thomas Frerking, O.S.B (St. Louis Abbey – English Benedictines) and Fr. Brian Van Hove, S.J., and then in a private ceremony at a chapel at St. Louis University, he was given his first Holy Communion and Confirmation. 

Following their life in St. Louis, Jeff and Linda were transferred in the Army to Washington, D.C. It was here that Linda would join him in conversion at the hands of the Archbishop of Military Service in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of Immaculate Conception. Jeff also continued his spiritual direction with the English Benedictines of St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington, D.C., where he would develop a deep and lasting friendship with his spiritual director and father confessor, Abbot Aidan Shae, O.S.B. 

Thanks to Abbot Aidan’s guidance and friendship, Jeff ultimately discerned that “God was calling me to a more structured life than just a normal layman.” While serving as a lieutenant back at Fort Belvoir, he also became a third-order Benedictine, or Oblate, of St. Anselm’s Abbey, vowing obedience, stability, and chastity within his state in life, vows which have governed Talley’s vocation as a Christian for almost 40 years. Adding to his confirmation name of Joseph, Benedict was Jeff’s selected oblation name; thus Jeffrey Joseph Benedict was born. 

Service at Home and Overseas

After serving two years in Korea, Jeff was assigned to Baltimore, where he would complete his company command, join the Army Reserve, and earn his graduate degree in Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He then completed his PhD in Engineering at Carnegie Mellon in three years, taking a job as a research engineer at a Corps of Engineers research lab in Vicksburg, Mississippi, before joining the faculty at the University of Notre Dame. In his nine years at ND, where he received early tenure and a Teacher of the Year award, Jeff was twice deployed as a reservist to fight in Iraq.

During one of these deployments, in 2008, his exemplary leadership as Commander of the 926th Engineer Brigade under General Dave Petraeus earned two (of three career) Bronze Stars. By developing and implementing a policy called “Engineering the Peace,” Jeff led an essential effort to rebuild Baghdad swiftly and efficiently, restoring the city’s infrastructure and leaving an incalculable impact on the region’s stability. 

Back home, Jeff continued teaching at Notre Dame until an enticing offer from Southern Methodist University, backed by calls from the governor of Texas, the bishop of Dallas, and legendary quarterback Roger Staubach, convinced him to move South. 

After teaching for two years at Southern Methodist and earning a business degree at Oxford, Jeff and Linda moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where Jeff, along with a classmate from Oxford, began several startup tech companies. Meanwhile, missing academia, Jeff also accepted a faculty position at Johns Hopkins.

Though he had continued to serve as a reservist during this time, at this point in his career, Jeff received a call from the Secretary of the Army, asking if he would return to active duty as the 32nd Chief of the Army Reserve and assume command of all the reserve forces. 

At first, Jeff declined. Taking on such a role would mean resigning from his companies and quitting his professorship. But when he relayed the offer to Linda, she told him bluntly, “Your country’s asking you to serve one more time. The answer must be ‘yes.’ You and I must serve if the country asks us to serve.” 

So, Dr. Jeff Talley became the Chief and Commanding General of Army Reserve Forces and was appointed to the three-star rank. For four years, he dedicated himself to this demanding role, which included extensive congressional and media responsibilities, as well as leading one of the largest commands in the Defense Department. “You’re exhausted when it’s done,” Jeff said, and when he and Linda heard rumblings of an extended appointment, Linda spoke up again, asking the Secretary directly: “Please let us retire.” And he agreed.

Taking Care of Business

Jeff retired, taking an appointment as the Cabot House Scholar in Residence, an Advanced Leadership Fellowship at Harvard University. For the next year, he and Linda lived in the dormitory with their dog, Baxter, “the first and last official mascot at Cabot House,” before moving back to Arizona. Jeff then spent four years as a senior executive at IBM, overseeing the corporation’s global public sector interests and dealing directly with heads of state and heads of government worldwide. 

While at IBM, Jeff held a faculty position at the University of Southern California in Public Policy, Engineering, and Business. In 2020, he realized he was burning out, so he “took a knee” and formed his own advisory firm around public-private partnerships, or P3s. Since then, the P3 Initiatives Group has assisted DOD-referred and B2B clients in developing strategies and pursuing contracts. 

Now, although he will remain Chairman of the Board of the P3I Group, Jeff is handing the reins to his vice president, who will assume the managing partnership role, allowing Talley to take on his new role as President of Belmont Abbey College.

A New Calling

His civilian and military careers, accomplishments, and accolades have continually proven Dr. Jeff Talley not only a man of unparalleled determination and energy but also someone who takes personal discernment seriously, who holds himself accountable, and who never rests on his (considerable) laurels.

As President of Belmont Abbey College, Dr. Talley’s vision for this nearly 150-year-old institution reflects the same clear and decisive vision and the same energetic commitment to excellence by which he has lived his own life. His priorities will center on strengthening our rigorous academics, rooted in faith and dedicated to growth in leadership.

“We have a unique opportunity,” he urges the Belmont Abbey College community, “to help young men and women get a rigorous academic experience in a faith-filled environment that’s strong in its Catholic identity so they can go forth in a world that’s become so challenging, so complex, so difficult. Leaders who are balanced both morally and professionally are in greater need than ever before. For this purpose, Belmont Abbey College exists. I thank God for the opportunity to become part of the Belmont Abbey College family, where together we can bear the light of Christ in the world today.” 

A convicting sense of vocation undergirds everything Dr. Talley has achieved over the course of his personal and professional life, and today it powerfully informs his vision for the future of Belmont Abbey. His own progress through a “challenging, complex, difficult” world has seen the benefit of rootedness in faith. And now, by the grace of God, his scholarly dedication, commitment to service, and faithful leadership will bring to this new era of Abbey history a vision that both cherishes our rich institutional past and aspires to an even brighter future.

As the Abbey prepares with gratitude to celebrate its 150th anniversary, the BAC community welcomes Dr. Jeff Talley as the 21st President of Belmont Abbey College, ready to build toward new levels of faith, scholarship, and leadership together, that in all things God may be glorified.

To read more Abbey stories and stay up to date on college news, request your copy of the next Belmont Abbey Magazine here.

By: Mike Ellis ‘90, Director of Alumni Relations

On July 1, 2025, Belmont Abbey lost a local legend: not just an alumni legend but also a longstanding pillar of Belmont and the Gaston County community. Charles “Charlie” Martin ’70 led an extraordinary life centered on family and built on dedicated service. Many of us remember him as an active Abbey alum and the former Mayor of Belmont. However, his life and legacy go even deeper. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Charlie’s widow Dorothy “Dot” Martin to learn more about this remarkable man.

Charlie – or as Dot lovingly calls him, “Kit” – was born in New York, where he and his siblings Carolyn, Bruce, and Napoleon lived with their parents in a Manhattan apartment. Charlie’s mother, a Catholic of Cuban descent, and his father, a Greensboro, NC native, had met in Miami Beach. Family was always a priority in the Martin household, and Charlie’s parents instilled both respect and discipline in their children.     

At 12, Charlie moved with his family to New Milford, NJ, where he finished high school and entered the Navy. Charlie’s four years of service (1961-65) spanned the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Cuban Missile Crisis, and as Dorothy recalled Kit’s love for the Navy and his expertise in crypto coding, she expressed surprise that he hadn’t pursued a naval career. In 1965, however, Charlie received an honorable discharge and enrolled at Fairleigh Dickinson University, at which time his brother Bruce was studying at Belmont Abbey College.

At FDU, Charlie attended classes by day and drove a NY City taxi at night. When he confessed to Bruce, however, that he wasn’t enjoying his undergraduate experience, his brother suggested he sell his car and transfer to Belmont Abbey, and that is exactly what he did. Once at the Abbey, a chance meeting with a pretty, local girl would convince Charlie to put down permanent roots. 

This meeting, which occurred at a local bar, was actually highly improbable, given that Dot doesn’t drink alcohol. When her friend, who worked at the bar, asked Dot to keep her company that night, however, she’d agreed to join her for the evening. And when a handsome young man from the Abbey arrived with his friends… it was love at first sight. “Charlie needed a ride back to the Abbey,” Dot remembers, “and I was hesitant, but he was a perfect gentleman. I dropped him off at the cemetery on campus.” This was the beginning of their romance, a romance which would last the rest of their lives. 

Kit and Dot were married in 1970 at the local Methodist church, and she jokingly calls this their “first marriage” since, after Dot converted to Catholicism, they “re-married” at the Basilica, with Father Cuthbert presiding. Today Charlie is buried in the Abbey cemetery, directly across from where Dot dropped him off on that first date.

During the 1970s, Dot recounts how different Belmont was and how Abbey students and outsiders, especially northeasterners, weren’t always welcome in town. Charlie, however, would not be deterred: “He was always a doer.” Whether coaching Belmont youth teams, serving on town committees, getting involved in the Red Cross, or becoming a member (and eventually President) of the Alumni Association, Charlie was a man of action.  

Although he entered into politics at the promptings of a local resident, Dot recalls this encouragement was less than genuine. As soon as Charlie submitted his city council candidate paperwork, in fact, his “friend” promptly campaigned against him on the platform that Belmont shouldn’t elect an outsider. Charlie lost that election but learned a valuable lesson, and he would spend the coming years immersing himself in the Belmont community. Becoming an insurance agent, he built relationships, made connections, and demonstrated his affection and concern for Belmont and its residents, gaining a loyal following. The second time he ran for city council, Kit Martin would not be denied.

As Charlie gained local popularity and support, the former Mayor of Belmont, Richard Boyce, suggested that he run. Charlie would serve as mayor for 10 years, doing everything he could to improve Belmont’s stature and visibility. The improved relationship between the Abbey and the town was one of his proudest accomplishments.

Even with his substantial successes, however, when I asked Dot what she remembers most fondly about Kit, she immediately said, “his humility.” Charlie always prioritized others, especially kids. He prayed the rosary daily and never allowed ego to influence his decisions. As Mrs. Martin reflects, “It was the way he loved me and the way he loved people” that she will continue to cherish most.

Belmont and the Belmont Abbey community join her in remembering this beloved local legend, who lived out the Benedictine hallmarks of love, humility, and stability, both in service of his alma mater and of the town he made his home. We will always be grateful for the magnanimous and humble Charlie Martin.

To read more Abbey stories and stay up to date on college news, request your copy of the next Belmont Abbey Magazine here.